seepheard



(No Model.)

' JLH. SHBPHE'ARD.

ROD FOR SLIDE VALVES.

No; "519,458. Patented May 8', 1894.

Vwftnefis 6,8. Inventor":

65/11472 J 0 H N H-SHEPH EARD, WLMQLZDkLQ NiTED STATES PATENT OF ICE.

JOHN H. SHEPHEARD, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR on ONE-HALF TO ROBERT o. BLAOKALL, OF SAME PLACE.

Ron FOR SLIDE-VALVES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 519,458, dated May 8, 1894:.

Application filed September 24, 1892 Serial No. 446,833. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN H. SHEPHEARD, of the city and county of Albany, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Rods for Slide-Valves, &c., of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in rods for slide-valves, pistons, and other similar parts ofasteam-engine which, by constant motion through the packing of stuffing-boxes, become quickly worn and reduced in diameter so as to require renewing, thereby involving a considerable loss in time and expense.

To remedy this defect, my invention consists in providing each rod with a removable sleeve which will surround the rod and,'being exposed to the wearing action of the packing, will leave the rod intact and preserve the strength required to meet the strain to which it is subjected.

In the accompanying drawings, which are herein referred to and form part of this specification, Figure 1 is a plan View of a slidevalve rod adapted to use on a, locomotive engine. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same with parts shown in longitudinal section. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the valve-rod detached from the rocker-arm connection and without the removable sleeve. tached plan view of the rocker-arm connection; and Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are detached Views of the removable sleeve, its adjusting-nut and am-nut.

Asrepresented in the drawings, A designates a valve-rod of the character commonly used on locomotive engines, the same being provided with a yoke, 1, fitted to contain the slide-valve of an engine; the outer end of said rod is provided with the usual taper shank, 2, having a key-hole, 3, formed therein. At the junction of said rod and yoke, a coniform hub, 4, is preferably made for the purpose of providing a steam-tight joint for the removable sleeve at that point.

B designates a removable sleeve that is fitted to slide freely on the rod A, and preferably said sleeve is made of steel-tubing so that it can be hardened if required. The inner end of said sleeve is fitted to the hub 4, and preferably said sleeve is fitted to the hub by means of a ground-joint so as to render Fig. 4 is a de-' the joint steam-tight, but, when preferred, any other form of joint may be used. At the outer end of the sleeve a screw-thieadedportion, 5, is provided for receiving an adj ustingnut, 6, by which said sleeve can be forced against the hub 4, and a jam-nut, 7,'which bears against the inner end of said adj ustingwhich is arranged to correspond to the keyhole in the shank 2. A tapered cotter or key, 11, is fitted to pass through the key-holes 3 and 10 and draw the shank 2 snugly into the bore of the socket 9.

My invention is operated in the following manner: The sleeve Bis slipped onto the rod A, the nuts 6 and 7 being screwed onto said sleeve so'as to leave space for adjusting the nut 63, and the connection 0 is keyed to the rod A in the usual manner; then the nut 6 is turned to carry saidnutinto contact with the end of the socket 9 and force the inner end of the sleeve into close contact with its seat on the hub 4, thereby preventing steam from escaping through said sleeve, and the nut 7 is then screwed up into close contact with the nut 6, so as to prevent the latter from work-v ing back-away from the end of the socket 9-and leaving thesleeve free to acquire a slight endwise movement; thereby a space would be left between the inner end of the sleeve B and hub 4 to permit the steam to escape therethrough and, by passing between the bore of the sleeve and periphery of the rod, pass off at the outer end of the sleeve, but, by keeping the nut 6 in close contact with the end of the socket 9, this escape of the steam can'be entirely prevented.

My invention can be readily applied to piston-rods or other rods that are required to work through packing in stuffing-boxes in order to obtain a tight joint around them before they emerge from the packing, but when applied to piston-rods, or other rods which have but little clearance between the stuffingbox and the socket in which the outer end of the rod is secured, I prefer to out a screwinner end an abutment; its outer end being fitted to couple to a socket, a socket removably secured to said rod, a removable-sleeve fitted to surround the periphery of said rod and to take against said abutment; the outer end of said sleeve having a screw-thread formed on its periphery, and a nut fitted to screw onto said screw thread and to take against the inner end of said socket, as and for the purpose specified.

JOHN H. SHEPHEARD.

Witnesses: I

WM. H. Low, S. B. BREWER. 

